Woman sentenced for embezzlement

YOUNGSTOWN -- A judge sentenced a 43-year-old Youngstown woman who embezzled $43,637 from her employer to six months in the Mahoning County Jail. Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court also put Kimberly A. Barnett of Ohio Avenue on probation for five years for a theft by deception conviction. Barnett took the money over a nine-month period from the Newman, Olson and Kerr law firm, where she worked as a bookkeeper and office manager. She forged the signature of a law partner on checks, court officials said. Barnett is under medical care for clinical depression and lost her home to a bank foreclosure, court officials said. Barnett could have received a maximum sentence of 18 months in a state penitentiary for the felony conviction. Judge Krichbaum said he sentenced Barnett to six months in the county jail Friday because of reports he received about how well the Youngstown woman is doing with her medical treatment and because she is a first-time offender. "But I can't let someone steal [$43,637] and walk out of here," he said.